Using Study Mode
While in Storm Mode, you may enter study mode, which enables you to manipulate parameters that affect the estimate calculations, such as outage forecasting, manual overrides and crew information, without altering the current real-time calculations.
This section includes the following topics:
Entering Study Mode
To toggle between study mode and real-time mode, do one of the following:
• Select Toggle Study Mode from the Storm menu, or
• Click the Toggle Study Mode button on the toolbar.
You can only enter study mode from a control zone that is currently in storm mode.
The first time you enter a study session, several portions of the Storm Management window are not populated as they were in the real-time session:
• The Summary Information table's Est Assessed By and Est Restored By columns are empty.
• The Storm Report table's Total Time to Assess and Total Time to Restore columns display zeros.
• The Storm Report table's Estimated Assessed By and Estimated Restored By columns are empty.
• Outage forecasting parameters that existed in the real-time session are not applied.
• Manual overrides that existed in the real-time session are not applied.
• The Crew Information table is empty.
• The Last Update field of the status bar does not contain a time.
Once you create a study session, it remains active throughout the storm. You may find a need to toggle between study and real-time modes repeatedly during a storm. Each time you re-enter study mode, Storm Management loads the saved data saved from the most recent visit to the study session.
The status bar at the bottom of the Storm Management window identifies the current operating modes, as shown below for study, storm mode.
When in study mode, the window's refresh interval is disabled, and estimate calculations using the data in the study mode session must be triggered manually. However, the system does continue to make real-time estimate calculations for all control zones.
Calculating Crew Resources
In storm mode, Storm Management can calculate the approximate number of crews that the system requires to complete assessment and restoration in the currently selected control zone by a specified date. You can enter variables used in the calculation and see the results in the Calculate Crews dialog box.
To open the Calculate Crews dialog box, do one of the following:
• Select Calculate Crews from the Storm menu when in storm mode, or
• Click the Calculate Crews… button on the toolbar.
The Calculate Crews dialog box displays the following fields and buttons:
• The Assessment Desired Date field contains the assessment completion time you want to achieve. The button on the right of this field opens a calendar that enables you to select a date and time. You must select a date and time later than the current time. The value you enter (and the system uses) displays in the upper left corner above the Used Crews table after the results are calculated. You may leave this field blank if you wish to Calculate Crews for Repair only.
• The Assessment Work Efficiency (%) field contains the efficiency of the assessment crews as a percentage. This value affects the amount of work to be completed and is applied along with performance factor values associated with the crew type. You must specify the assessment work efficiency as a percentage between 1 and 100. The value you enter (and the system uses) displays to the right of the Estimated Assessed By date above the Used Crews table after the results are calculated.
• The Repair Desired Date field contains the repair completion time you want to achieve. The button on the right of this field opens a calendar that enables you to select a date and time. You must select a date and time later than the current time. The value you enter (and the system uses) displays to the left of the Repair Eff percentage above the Used Crews table after the results are calculated. You may leave this field blank if you wish to Calculate Crews for Assessment only.
• The Repair Work Efficiency (%) field contains the efficiency of the repair crews as a percentage. This value affects the amount of work to be completed and is applied along with performance factor values associated with the crew type. You must specify the assessment work efficiency as a percentage between 1 and 100. The value you enter (and the system uses) displays above the right corner of the Used Crews table after the results are calculated.
• The Hours field contains the number of hours that equal one crew unit. The results are returned in crew units rounded to the next whole integer. The value entered and used by the calculation displays above the Available Crews table.
• The Calculate Crews button calculates the number of crews based on the specified data. It populates the Used Crews and Available Crews panes with the results.
• The Reset button resets the entries in the Assessment Desired Date and Work Efficiency, the Repair Desired Date and Work Efficiency, and the Crew Unit Hours fields back to their default values.
• The Print… button brings up the Print Preview dialog box, which allows you to print out the contents of the Calculate Crews dialog box.
• The Cancel button closes the dialog box.
• The Outage Types column contains the name of the Storm Management outage type category.
• The Assessment Units Existing column contains the number of existing assessment crews units that can assess each outage type by the specified date.
• The Assessment Units Needed column contains the number of additional assessment crew units needed to assess each outage type by the specified date.
• The Assessment Units Total column contains the total number of assessment crew units needed to assess each outage type by the specified date.
• The Repair Units Existing column contains the number of existing repair crews units that can repair each outage type by the specified date.
• The Repair Units Needed column contains the number of additional repair crew units needed to repair each outage type by the specified date.
• The Repair Units Total column contains the total number of repair crew units needed to repair each outage type by the specified date.
• The Crew Type column indicates the type of work performed by the crews. It matches the crew types defined in the Crew Makeup window of Oracle Utilities Network Management System.
• The Unused Units column contains the number excess crew units for each crew type that are found to exist by the calculation.
• The Total Units column contains the total number of units for each crew type that are found to exist by the calculation.
Calculating Crews Needed to Assess and Restore Outages by a Given Time
To calculate the number of crew units needed to assess and repair all events in the currently selected control zone by a specific time, complete these steps:
1. From a control zone in storm mode, do one of the following:
• Select Calculate Crews option from the Storm menu, or
• Click the Calculate Crews… button on the toolbar.
2. Click on the Assessment Desired Date calendar button.
3. From the calendar dialog box, select the date and time you want all assessment completed by and click OK.
4. Select the percentage in the Assessment Work Efficiency (%) field and type the percentage you want to use.
5. Click the Repair Desired Date calendar button.
6. From the calendar dialog box, select the date and time you want all repair completed by and click OK.
7. Select the percentage in the Repair Work Efficiency (%) field and type the percentage you want to use.
8. Click the Calculate Crews button. Storm Management estimates the number of crew units needed and available and displays the results in the Used Crews and Available Crews tables.
Printing Calculate Crews Results
To print the contents of the Calculate Crews dialog box, complete these steps:
1. Do one of the following:
• Click the Calculate Crews button on the toolbar, or
• Select Calculate Crews... option from the System menu. The Calculate Crews dialog box opens.
2. Click the Print… button. The Print Preview dialog box opens.
3. Adjust the scale, orientation, and page setup as desired.
4. Click the Print button to print the pages. The Print Preview dialog box disappears and the print output appears at your selected printer.
Importing Crews and Parameters
In study mode, the Import Crews dialog box has additional options not available in real-time mode. It enables you to import Web Trouble crew information, as well as the manual override/outage forecasting parameters of the currently selected control zone and any crew information from real-time mode into study mode.
Importing Real-Time Crews and Parameters into the Study Session
To open the Import Crews dialog box, click the Import Crews… button above the Crew Information table.
The following fields are only activated in study mode:
• The Crew Groups option, when checked, enables you to import the crew groups from the real-time session.
• The Parameters option, when checked, option enables you to import the outage forecasting and manual overrides from real-time mode for the selected control zone.
• The Company option is only enabled when the Real Crews Import Criteria option is not selected. It imports only the crews with the Company specified in the drop-down list.
Once you click the Import button, Storm Management Crew Information pane looks and behaves as it does in real-time mode.
The window below shows how the Crew Information table would look if real-time crew groups are imported with no filters. All of the real-time crews are imported.
Importing Real-Time Session Information into the Study Session
To import crews, complete these steps:
1. Make sure the currently selected control zone is operating in study mode.
2. Click Import Crews….
3. Uncheck the Real Crews option under the Import Criteria section.
4. Check the Crew Groups option under the Import Criteria section.
5. Check the Parameters option under the Import Criteria section.
6. Click Import. The following occurs:
• Any outage forecasting and manual override parameters that exist for this control zone in the real-time session are applied to the Storm Report table, but not yet saved.
• The Save Changes button in the toolbar becomes sensitized.
• The Crew Information table is now populated with the crew groups that exist for this control zone in the real-time session. If an imported crew is not an identical match to any existing crew group rows in the Crew Information table, then it's added to the table as a new row and highlighted in green. If an imported crew is an identical match to any existing crew group rows in the Crew Information table, then the number of crews in the existing crew group row is incremented and the row is highlighted in cyan.
7. Apply the outage forecasting and manual override changes by either:
• Clicking the Save Changes button on the toolbar, or
• Selecting Save Changes from the System menu.
8. Apply the Crew Info table changes by clicking Apply Crew Changes.
The Crew Information table updates to display only those crews belonging to the currently selected control zone. The crew groups that are removed from the current view are saved in the study session for their appropriate control zones. You can view them by selecting their control zone from the Zone Selection tree.
Resetting the Current Study Session to Match the Real-Time Session
In the course of working with the study session, the user may want to start over by resetting the state of the study session to the current state of the real-time session.
1. To reset the study session, do one of the following:
• Click the Reset Study Session button on the toolbar, or
• Select Reset Study Session from the Storm menu.
The Reset Study Session confirmation dialog box will appear.
2. Click the Yes button on the confirmation dialog box to proceed. The confirmation dialog box closes. The Crew Information table updates with the crews defined in the real-time session. Special Condition, Forecast mode and override information in the Storm Report table are also updated to match the real-time session.
Note: This operation affects all control zones, not just the currently selected zone.
Exporting Crews and Parameters
Once the user is satisfied with the simulation parameters in study mode, the parameters can be exported back into the real-time session.
To export the study session parameters, complete these steps:
1. Do one of the following:
• Click the Export Study Session button on the toolbar, or
• Select Export Study Session from the Storm menu.
The Export Study Session confirmation dialog box appears.
2. Click the Yes button on the confirmation dialog box to proceed. The confirmation dialog box closes. The contents of the Crew Information as well as Special Condition, Forecast mode and override information in the Storm Report table are copied into the real-time session.
Note: This operation affects all control zones in the real-time session, not just the currently selected zone.
Calculating Estimates in Study Mode
Because estimate calculations using the data in the study mode session must be triggered manually, you must use the Force Simulation Run button to calculate the results.
Note: While you are working in study mode, Storm Management continues to calculate restoration times for control zones operating in real-time.
To calculate estimates in study mode, do one of the following:
• Select Force Simulation Run option from the System menu, or
• Click the Force Simulation Run button on the toolbar.
The Summary Information table and Storm Report table update to display the estimates. The status bar indicates the time at which the forced simulation was last executed in the study session.
Note: Each time you make changes in the Storm Management window in study mode, you must press the Force Simulation Run button in order to view the results of the changes. Because every time you press the Force Simulation Run button causes Storm Management to completely re-analyze and calculate estimates for all events in the system, forcing a simulation could slow down system performance at times. It is recommended you keep forced simulations at a minimum.
When Storm Management completes a forced simulation in real-time mode, a confirmation message is displayed.
Note: Once you've found the optimal settings in your study session, you must manually re-enter them into real-time mode to apply them to the storm.
Exiting Study Mode
To exit study mode, do one of the following:
• Click the Toggle Study Mode button on the toolbar, or
• Select Toggle Study Mode from the Storm menu.
If there are unsaved changes, a dialog box opens prompting you for options to save the changes.
Note: You must exit study mode before you can exit storm mode.